Lattice dynamical origin of peak thermoelectric performance in AgPbmSbTe2+m observed by inelastic neutron scattering

2011/04/15 by M. E. Manley, S. Shapiro, Q. Li +2
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermoelectric Materials and Devices #Electrical resistivity and conductivity #Inelastic neutron scattering #Inelastic scattering #Neutron scattering #Phonon #Scattering #Seebeck coefficient #Thermal properties of materials #Thermoelectric effect #Topological Materials and Phenomena #cond-mat.mtrl-sci

paper · pdf · doi:10.1063/1.3581155

published as JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS 109, 083722 (2011) · 13 pages, 2 figures

openalex publication_date 2011/04/15 · arxiv created 2011/06/09 · arxiv updated 2011/06/13 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Phonon densities of states (DOS) for the high performing thermoelectric material, AgPbmSbTe2+m (LAST-m, m = 16, 18, and 20), were extracted from time-of-flight inelastic neutron scattering measurements. The phonon DOS of LAST-18 differs remarkably from LAST-16 and LAST-20 by exhibiting a dramatic broadening of its acoustic modes that increases on heating. This broadening coincides with a minimum in the thermal conductivity, a maximum in the electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient, and a related peak in thermoelectric performance. We argue that the anomalous broadening originates with scattering enhanced by modifications to Te-Ag(Sb) bonds caused by their resonant electronic states falling near the Fermi energy for m = 18.

Citations

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